Nueroscience

Front 1

What is a CAT scan? does it correlate brain anatomy with behavior or record brain activity during behavior?

Back 1

Computerized Axial tomography. dye is injected into the blood, to increase contrast in the image, then x-rays are passed through the head and recorded by detectors on the opposite side. The computer, based on the x-rays, constructs an image of the brain. It correlates brain anatomy with behavior.

Front 2

What is an MRI? does it correlate brain anatomy with behavior or record brain activity during behavior?

Back 2

Magnetic resonance imaging. (any atom with an odd numbered atomic weight, like hydrogen, has an axis of rotation). the MRI applies a powerful magnetic field to align all the axes of rotation, then tilts them with a quick radio frequency field. When the radio frequency is turned off, the atomic nuclei release electromagnetic energy as they go back to the original axis. By measuring that energy, MRI forms an image of the brain. It correlates brain anatomy with behavior.

Front 3

What is an EEG? does it correlate brain anatomy with behavior or record brain activity during behavior?

Back 3

electroencephalograph. It records electrical activity of the brain through electrodes. electrodes glued to the scalp measure the average activity at any moment for the population of cells under the electrode. this can record spontaneous brain activity or activity in response to a stimulus. it records brain activity during behavior.

Front 4

What are evoked potentials?

Back 4

the results when someone hooked up to an EEG responds to a stimulus. It's the results of the brain activity when the person, for example, is shown a scary picture. They can show us information that self-reports do not.

Front 5

What is an MEG? does it correlate brain anatomy with behavior or record brain activity during behavior?

Back 5

magnetoencephalograph. It's similar to an EEG, but instead of measuring electrical activity, it measures magnetic fields produced by brain activity. it records brain activity during behavior.

Front 6

What is a PET? does it correlate brain anatomy with behavior or record brain activity during behavior?

Back 6

Positron-emmision tomography. provides a high resolution image of activity in a living brain by recording the emission of radioactivity from injected chemicals. The person recieves an injection of some chemical with radioactive atoms, like glucose. When a radioactive atoms decays, it releases a positron that immediately collides with a nearby electron, emitting 2 gamma rays in opposite directions. the head is surrounded by gamma ray detectors. when 2 detectors record gamma rays at the same time, they identify the halfway spot between the 2 detectors as the point of origin of the gamma rays. A computer uses this info to determine how many gamma rays are coming from each spot in the brain, which tells us how much radioactive chemical is located in each area. THE AREAS SHOWING THE MOST RADIOACTIVITY ARE THE ONES WITH THE MOST BLOOD FLOW AND, THEREFORE, HAVE THE MOST BRAIN ACTIVITY. it records brain activity during behavior

Front 7

What is an fMRI? does it correlate brain anatomy with behavior or record brain activity during behavior?

Back 7

functional magnetic resonance imaging. records the energy released by water molecules after removal of a magnetic field. it's a modified version of an MRI based on hemoglobin. it records brain activity during behavior.

Front 8

How is hemoglobin associated with fMRI?

Back 8

Hemoglobin with oxygen reacts to a magnetic field differently from hemogobin without oxygen. fMRI's detect changes in the oxygen content of the blood as it responds to the amount of synaptic input reaching each brain area because oxygen consumption increases when a brain area's activity increases.

Front 9

What are the 4 ways we study brain functions?

Back 9

1) We correlate brain anatomy with behavior.
2) We record brain activity during behavior.
3) We examine the effects of brain damage
4) We examine the effects of stimulating some brain area.

Front 10

What is one problem with using brain damage as a way of studying brain function?

Back 10

the lack of control. Most people with damage in one area have damage to other areas, too, and no 2 people have exactly the same damage.

Front 11

What is a lesion?

Back 11

damage to a brain area.

Front 12

What is an ablation?

Back 12

removal of a brain area.

Front 13

What is a stereotaxic instrument and how is it used?

Back 13

It is used to damage the interior of the brain (make lesions). It's a device for the precise placement of electrodes in the brain. The researcher finds out where to drill the hole in the skull, they put the rat to sleep, then aim the electrode at the desired position relative to certain landmarks on the skull. Then, they insert the electrode, which passes an electrical current which damages the intended area.

Front 14

What is the purpose of a sham lesion?

Back 14

A sham lesion is a control group for lesions. A response to the effectivness of lesions may be "how do we know the deficit wasn't cause by anesthetizing the animal, drilling a hole in its skull, and lowering an electrode to the target?" a sham lesion is when the researcher performs all of the same procedures as a lesion, except they don't pass the electrical current.

Front 15

What is the gene-knockout approach?

Back 15

when researchers use biochemical methods to riderct a mutation to a particular gene that is important for certain types of cells, transmitters, or receptors.

Front 16

What is transcranial magnetic stimulation?

Back 16

the application of an intense magnetic filed to a portion of the scalp, which temporarily inactivates neurons below the magnet.

Front 17

How do the effects of brief, mild magnetic stimulation differ from those of longer, more intense stimulation?

Back 17

Brief, mild stimulation increases activity in the neurons while long, intense stimulation blocks it.

Front 18

What is one limitation of any stimulation study?

Back 18

complex behaviors and experiences depend on many brain areas, not just one. So an artificial stimulation produces an artificial response.

Front 19

What is a problem with the brain-body ratio and brain size way of looking at intelligence?

Back 19

Presumably, humans are the smartest species on earth. Because this is the case, it should follow that we have both the biggest brain, as well as the most satisfactory brain-body ratio (assuming you're willing to accept either theory of intelligence). However, humans don't have the biggest brain, nor do they have the best brain-body ratio.

Front 20

What 2 cells does the nervous system consist of?

Back 20

neurons and glia

Front 21

What do neurons do?

Back 21

receive info and transmit it to other cells

Front 22

What is the cell membrane?

Back 22

the surface of the cell. It's a structure that seperates the inside of the cell from the outside environment

Front 23

What is the cell nucleus?

Back 23

the structure that contains the chromosomes

Front 24

What is the mitochondion?

Back 24

it's the structure that performs metabolic activities, providing the energy needed for other activities the cell does.

Front 25

What are the ribosomes?

Back 25

the place where the cell synthesizes new protein molecules

Front 26

What do proteins do for the cell?

Back 26

proteins provide building materials for the cell and facilitate various chemical reactions.

Front 27

What is the endoplasmic reticulum?

Back 27

A network of thin tubes that transport newly synthesized proteins to other locations

Front 28

What 4 components make up larger neurons?

Back 28

dendrites, soma (cell body), an axon, and presynaptic terminals.

Front 29

Where is the cell body of a motor neuron located?

Back 29

in the spinal cord

Front 30

A sensory neuron is specialized at one end to be highly sensitive to certain types of stimulation, such as....

Back 30

light, sound, or touch

Front 31

What are dendrites?

Back 31

branching fibers that get narrower near their ends. Dendrites receives info from other neurons. The greater the surface area of a dendrite, the more info it can recieve

Front 32

What is a dendrites surface lined with?

Back 32

Synaptic receptors

Front 33

What does the cell body (soma) contain?

Back 33

nucleus, ribososmes, mitochondria, and other strucures found in most cells.

Front 34

Where does most of the metabolic work occur?

Back 34

in the cell body

Front 35

What is the axon?

Back 35

the info sender of the neuron, conveying an impulse toward other neurons or an organ or muscle.

Front 36

What is a presynaptic terminal?

Back 36

an axon has many branches, each of which swells at its tip, forming the presynaptic terminal. This is where the axon releases chemicals that cross between on neuron and the next

Front 37

A neuron can have more than one axon? t/f

Back 37

false

Front 38

What does an afferent axon do?

Back 38

brings information into a structure

Front 39

what does an efferent axon do?

Back 39

caries info away from a structure

Front 40

T/F. Every sensory neuron is an afferent to the rest of the nervous system while every motor neuron is a efferent from the nervous system

Back 40

True

Front 41

What is the main difference between a neuron and a glia?

Back 41

glia does not transmit info over long distances, unlike neurons. Glia exhanges chemicals with adjacent neurons.

Front 42

What are astrocytes?

Back 42

a type of glia. It's star shaped and it wraps around the presynaptic terminals of a group of functionally related axons.

Front 43

What do astrocytes do?

Back 43

by taking up chemicals released by axons and then releasing the back to axons, an astrocyte helps synchronize the activity of the axons, enabling them to send messages in waves. They also remove waste material. They also dilate the blood vessels to bring more nutrients into that area.

Front 44

What are microglia?

Back 44

very small cells, which also (along with astrocyte) remove waste material as well as viruses, fungi, and other microorganisms. They function like part of the immune system

Front 45

What are oligodendrocytes and schwann cells?

Back 45

oligodenrocyte is a type of glia in the brain and spinal cord while schwann cells are a type of glia in the periphery. They both build the myelin sheaths (insulting material in many vertebrate axons) that surround and insulate certain vertebrate axons.

Front 46

What are radial glia?

Back 46

glia that guides the migrations of neurons and their axons and dendrites during embryonic development

Front 47

T/F. When embryological development finishes, most radial glia differentiates into neurons, and a smaller number differentiate into astrocytes and oligodendrocytes.

Back 47

True

Front 48

T/F. Many chemicals cannot cross from the blood to the brain

Back 48

True

Front 49

What is the blood-brain barrier?

Back 49

the mechanism that keeps most chemicals out of the vertebrate brain.

Front 50

Explain how the blood-barrier works and why we need it?

Back 50

When a virus invades a cell, the cell exposes the virus through the membrane which allows the immune system to find the virus and kill it, along with the cell it invaded. The problem with this is that, unlike skin or blood cells, the vertebrate brain doesn't replace damaged neurons. To minimize the risk of irreparable brain damage, the body builds a wall along the sides of the brain's blood vessels. This wall keeps out most viruses, bacteria, and harmful chemicals, but also most nutrients. this is why many chemicals cannot cross from the blood to the brain.

Front 51

Some viruses can evade the blood brain barrier. How does the brain deal with this?

Back 51

For viruses that evade the bbb, microglia and other mechanisms attack the viruses or slow their reproduction without killing the neurons they occupy.

Front 52

What types of neurons are in the Cerebral cortex?

Back 52

Sensory and motor neurons, which are targeted for action (plan, sense, remember)

Front 53

what types of neurons are in the cerebellum?

Back 53

smooth integration of behaviors and sensations

Front 54

What types of neurons are in the spinal cord?

Back 54

ascending and decending, more direct input and output

Front 55

what are groups of neurons called in the Central Nerveous system?

Back 55

nucleus (nuclei)

Front 56

what are groups of neurons called in the peripheral nervous system?

Back 56

ganglion (ganglia)

Front 57

what is phrenology and who discovered it?

Back 57

phrenology is relating skull anatomy to behavior. Franz Gull, who discovered it, noticed people with excellent verbal memories had protruding eyes. He inferred that verbal memory depended on brain areas behind the eyes that pushed the eyes forward.

Front 58

What can a CAT scan best detect with regards to the brain?

Back 58

tumors and structural abnormalities

Front 59

What is one advantage and disadvantage to an MRI?

Back 59

advantage: good spatial resolution without radioactivity
disadvantage: lie motionless in confining, noisy apparatus.

Front 60

What is an EEG used to detect?

Back 60

spnotaneous brain activity

Front 61

what is an advantage and disadvantage to MEG?

Back 61

good temporal resolution, but poor spatial resolution

Front 62

what 2 types of activity can an EEG measure

Back 62

Spontaneous activity, and response to a stimulus (evoked potential)

Front 63

How is an MEG different from an EEG and does an MEG have better spatial or temporal resolution than an EEG?

Back 63

instead of measuring electrical activity, it measures the faint magnetic fields generated by brain activity. MEG has better temporal resolution.

Front 64

What did Paul Broca discover?

Back 64

He found that a pateient who had lost the ability to speak had damage in part of his left frontal cortex, an area now called Broca's area

Front 65

What are 4 methods used to study the effects of brain damage

Back 65

Lesion, which is damage to a brain area
ablation, which is removal of a brain area
gene-knockout, which is direct mutation to a gene
transcranial magnetic stimulation, intense magnetic field to a portion of the scalp which temporarily inactivates neurons below the magnet

Front 66

What did Ramon y Cajal discover about the cells in our brain? (What question did they address?)

Back 66

It was questioned whether or not the brain was made up of one big cell, or a bunch of individual cells. Ramon y Cajal assumed that if it was true that there was one big cell in the brain, then staining a cell with a colored dye would eventually lead to the whole brain being that color of dye. however, their test proved to show that the brain was made of a bunch of individual cells because the dye did not spread past the one cell it was injected into.

Front 67

T/F. specific protein channels in the membrane allow a controlled flow of water, oxygen, sodium, potassium, calcium and other importnat elements

Back 67

true

Front 68

How does a motor neuron work? (think simple)

Back 68

It recieves excitation from other neurons through its dendrites and conducts implulses along its axon to a muscle.

Front 69

T/F. The sensory neuron is a neuron conducting touch info from the skin to the spinal cord?

Back 69

true

Front 70

What is the difference between an afferent and an efferent axon. Give an example of each one.

Back 70

An afferent axon brings info into a structure while an efferent axon carries info away from a structure. Every sensory neuron is an afferent to the rest of the nervous system, and every motor neuron is a efferent from the nervous system.

Front 71

give 2 examples of how a neuron relates to its shape (think Purkinje cell and retina cells)

Back 71

The dendrites of the purkinje cell of the cerebellum branch widely, enabling it to recieve input from a huge number of axons. Cells in the retina have short branches on their dentrites, making input come from fewer sources

Front 72

List the 5 main structures of an animal cell

Back 72

membrane, nucleus, mitochondion, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum

Front 73

List the main structures of a neuron, along with any substructures within it, (list these in parentheses)

Back 73

Dendrites (synaptic receptors and dendritic spines).
Soma (which contains the nucleus, ribosomes, mitochondion)
Axon (Myelin Sheath, presynaptic terminal)

Front 74

What are 5 functions of an astrocyte?

Back 74

encircle several presynaptic terminals
take up, store, and transfer chemicals
help synchronize activity of axons
remove waste
help control blood flow

Front 75

Oligodendrocytes form myelin sheaths in the ___ nervous system, while Schwann cells form myelin sheaths in the ___nervous system

Back 75

oligodendrocytes=Central Nervous system
schwann cells=periphery nervous system

Front 76

What is the role of the active transport system?

Back 76

It's what the brain uses for certain essential elements to pass through the bbb. It's a protien mediated process that expends energy to pump chemicals from the blood into the brain.

Front 77

What idea is associated with Dennet?

Back 77

when we answer all of the easy problems of conciousness, the hard problems will go away

Front 78

What did Chalmers say about conciousness?

Back 78

conciousness is a fundamental property of matter and cannot be reduced further

Front 79

what is qualia?

Back 79

the quality of a concious expirience is more than just describable facts.

Front 80

what is syesthesia and what is a possible explination for how this happens?

Back 80

it is when people confuse senses, they will say they hear red. It could be related to blood supply problems, which is proven through the fact that people who huff paint can sometimes lead to synethesia.